Honourable Speaker, earlier this year the Northern Tasmanian Alliance for Resilient Council was made-up of eight north-east councils, produced a blueprint for climate healthy and resilient communities in Tasmania. The World Research Document, with accompanying technical report, outlines the importance of working together, drawing on local knowledge and creating place based solutions for communities to face climate change.
We know that climate change is a major issue impacting health, well-being, communities and environment. We often wake to news of natural disasters. This week we hear of devastating floods from Cyclone Ditwah across Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand causing the loss of thousands of lives and displacing tens of thousands of others.
Tasmania is not immune, as identified by the climate risk assessment released earlier this year, we can expect to see increased bushfires, floods, heat waves and respiratory illnesses as a result of bushfire smoke. We can expect to see more people hospitalised for heat stroke. Pregnant women, children, older people, people with disabilities and chronic illness are more susceptible to heat stroke, and some suburbs and areas are more vulnerable than others which leaves them at risk of heat wave, which is highlighted by Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr Scott McEwen in this morning’s Mercury.
People will also lose homes to bushfires, and people in coastal communities have their properties threatened by coastal erosion and inundation. This is the reality we are living. This is the future we enter. Local councils play an essential role in readying local communities for climate change. For over 20 years, local councils have led the charge for climate resilience and often pick up the tab for climate-related costs.
A report by the Australia Institute revealed that local councils were paying 12 times the amount in insurance for climate related costs than they were 20 years ago. You think of councils with high bushfire risk, with many bridges and low-lying roads such as the Huon Valley and you know that they’re susceptible.
Why aren’t we doing more as a state government to support them, to make them climate healthy and resilient? There is some excellent leadership happening in the local government space. The blueprint from the Northern Councils Alliance is just one example, when I was in council when minister Vincent was mayor of Sorell, with the Southern Tasmanian Councils doing a lot of this work and I thank the officers who are involved at that stage. They have the expertise; councils understand the needs of their local communities and are best placed to tailor solutions to the places they live. They already employ specialists, engineers, planners and community development officers who can adapt their professional skills to meet the needs of the community. They understand place-based change, and the need to work with where the community is at to get changes done.
I commend the Northern Tasmanian Alliance for Resilient Councils for their leadership on this matter, and I urge other community leaders to follow suit. I also acknowledge the work of the state government to support this initiative as did Menzies and Healthy Tas.
I finish by imploring the government ministers responsible to recognise and fund this vital work of climate resilience in local councils, in the three regions of Tasmania. Councils have the same responsibilities across the board, but it can apply local solutions that fit with the community needs and circumstances.
